Kamui-kun in Wonderland
Part 1
By Kristin Huntsman
Kamui moaned and opened his eyes, still too tired to glare at the morning sunlight that had interrupted his rest.
"You sleep late, don't you?" an entirely-too-bright-and-cheerful voice asked from his left.
"What the hell do you want?" Kamui asked, looking at Sorata.
"Hey, is that any way to talk to one of the Seals?" Sorata asked, putting on a wounded air. He pouted. "And after all I've done for you?"
"Like waking me up?"
"That was the sunshine, not me!" Sorata protested. "Anyway, how am I supposed to protect you if I'm nowhere near you? And one of the Seals has to know where you are...."
"Go back to Hinoto and tell her to stuff it," Kamui interrupted, already irritated by Sorata's cavalier morning personality. "I am not interested in becoming one of your Seals."
"So you'd rather destroy the world? And Kotori and Fuuma with it?"
"Kamui-chan!" a bright voice called, as a knock came softly at the door. "Breakfast is almost ready!"
"I'll be there," Kamui replied, then turned to glare at Sorata. "You mention her, and she shows up. Awfully convenient argument for your side, isn't it?"
"You'd rather side with the likes of Sakurazukamori?" Sorata asked. "You already know the Minions' side has tried to kill her."
Kamui found he had no answer to that.
"Ah ha! That's it!" Sorata crowed. "You like her!"
"Sorata..." Kamui growled.
Arisugawa danced out the door, singing merrily, "Kamui likes Kotori, Kamui likes Kotori...."
Kamui raced after him, and seeing that he was being chased, Sorata gave up singing with a laugh, and ran down the stairs.
"Sorata, what--?" Fuuma asked as Sorata ran past him down the stairs.
"Not now!" Sorata replied. Fuuma shrugged, and turned to resume going up the stairs. He saw Kamui only the last instant before Kamui's momentum made them crash together and tumble to the bottom of the stairs.
Kamui-kun in Wonderland
--a sequel of sorts to Subaru-kun in Wonderland--"Oof...." Fuuma sat up, holding his hand to his head. "Are you okay, Kamui?"
"I'm fine," Kamui replied, sitting up next to him. He looked around them. "Where the hell--?!"
Fuuma looked around too, and was very surprised to find that they were no longer in Togakushi Shrine. He and Kamui sat on a gigantic black-and-white checkerboard, boxed in by mirrors that reflected the blue sky above. "Where is this?"
A soft laugh answered both of their questions, and Kamui and Fuuma looked over their heads to see a woman floating above them in a chair that looked like nothing so much as a hollowed-out egg. "I don't suppose either of you play chess?" she asked.
"I don't suppose this is one of the things that you said would be happening around you in the near future?" Fuuma murmured to Kamui as the woman smiled softly at both of them.
"Not as far as I know," Kamui replied in a low voice. "Nothing I know about my 'destiny' includes her."
Fuuma decided to answer the question. "I can play chess," he answered.
"Then, let's play a match," the woman replied. She gestured with her hand, and Fuuma suddenly found himself slightly off-balance as a chair formed beneath him and bore him up in the air to a position where he had an overview of the chessboard.
"Kamui?" he asked, looking down at where the younger boy stood, still on the chessboard.
"We'll need pieces, of course," the elegantly-clad woman began, frowning slightly. Forms materialized on the chessboard.
Some of them were people Fuuma recognized.
Sorata Arisugawa stood on one side of the board, as did Kotori. A cute girl with short, dark hair stood beside them, a semi-transparent dog standing by her side. There was another young woman, with long dark hair and a sword growing out of her palm, and a tall man wearing a business suit. A woman whose age Fuuma was unsure of rested on one of the squares as well, flowing white hair accenting the blindness of her eyes. There was a blonde woman, too, dressed so scantily that Fuuma almost blushed. Another was a tall, thin young man with black hair and emerald eyes, and an emptiness of emotion on his face that Fuuma found frightening. And there were others, too....
On the other side of the board stood their mirrors. Sorata faced a man with a pretty face and light hair. Fuuma remembered seeing him fight Sorata the first time he had met the Osaka boy. Facing Kotori was a man Fuuma did not recognize. His hair covered his eyes, and Fuuma wondered who he was. Opposite the short schoolgirl stood a big, brawny man, and they seemed to be almost complete opposites. Next to him, facing the girl with the sword, was a girl with short hair and glasses.
Fuuma's eyes skimmed over the others, noting only the tall, dark-haired woman who he had seen in his dreams, and the man who had attacked Kamui and Kotori one day.
On either side of the chessboard stood a Kamui. As Fuuma looked first at one, then the other, he thought he could almost see blurred wings, either white or black--he couldn't tell which.
"You are Kamui's..." he whispered to himself.
"Shall we play?" the woman asked, interrupting his train of thought.
"What have you done to Kamui?!" Fuuma demanded.
"Done?" the woman questioned. "I've done nothing to him. He's merely become a part of the game."
"This isn't chess," Fuuma argued. "There are only nine pieces on each side."
The woman smiled patronizingly. "It's Wonderland Chess--I developed it myself. Might I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"
"Fuuma Monou," Fuuma answered. "What's your name?"
"Humpty Dumpty," replied the woman. "Remember, Fuuma-kun, your actions will decide the fates of both the Minions and the Seals. Choose wisely, or your side will lose."
"Minions and Seals?" Fuuma asked, not knowing what she was referring to.
"The two sides of the board," she explained. "That one," she said, pointing at the side that held Kotori and Sorata as well as one of the Kamuis, "is the Seals. The other is the Minions. And play carefully, Fuuma-kun... the winner will get a special prize at the end."
Something inside Fuuma didn't quite trust this woman, but he decided to play nonetheless. He certainly didn't seem to have much choice. So, being a gentleman, he let Humpty Dumpty make the first move.
Well, when I have a bad day, I speculate... I learned about child abuse today in class, and, as with everything, it fits. Now to type on my TB "epic"....